'safeway' on Serious Eats

I've been wondering a lot about the following would-you-rather question: on average, if you were to spend around $15 on a bottle of wine, and you were given the option of a) randomly selected red wine or b) randomly selected white wine, which would you chose? More

While the convenience of buying my vino with my Honey Nut Cheerios would certainly be welcome, the same question arises when facing aisles of wine, no matter the setting: What should I buy? What are the best options in this super-convenient scenario? And are the prices competitive with better wine shops? More

Trader Joe's came out on top in our olive oil tasting. [Photograph: Robyn Lee] When the Food section of The San Francisco Chronicle took a look back at the year's blind tastings, they noticed quite a bit of love for grocery store generic brands. "Panelists are choosing generic brands from Safeway, Trader Joe's and Whole Foods almost as often as name brands...In fact, in the 44 tastings from 2009, more than one-third of the winners were grocery store brands." So long to the stigma against cheaper, less prettily-packaged goods from the in-house brand? The Chronicle's tasters were fans of baked goods from Trader Joe's and condiments from Safeway (especially the cocktail sauce and bread and butter pickle chips). Sifting... More